


bound to fall for you

by dizzyondreams



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: College AU, M/M, Modern AU, drug mention, jean's a rich kid and eren is lusting after him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 06:44:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2099535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzyondreams/pseuds/dizzyondreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Later, on the bus back to their apartment, Eren went on a stoned rant about Jean’s profile that Armin patiently sat through with a quiet air of bemusement. Mikasa just stared out of the window and offered the occasional, “Believe me, he’s an ass.” to which Eren paid no attention. He officially had a new crush.</p>
            </blockquote>





	bound to fall for you

Eren first met Jean Kirschtein at one of Connie and Sasha’s weekly smoke ups. He’d been invited because Sasha knew Mikasa through college, and had dragged Armin along so he wasn’t alone. He barely knew Connie and Sasha, and the prospect of getting high with practical strangers wasn’t a very attractive prospect. Nonetheless, he went, and within fifteen minutes was incredibly grateful he hadn’t blown it off to play MarioKart all night with Armin. 

Taking up almost an entire sofa on his own (as well as hogging the bong, Eren might add) was Jean Kirschtein. He was tall, wiry, with a expensive haircut and a nose ring. Eren couldn’t take his eyes off him. 

Sasha raised a lazy hand in their direction, crowded in the doorway of the living room, before exhaling an impressive amount of smoke and gesturing in the general direction of the sofa. “Hey guys, sit, shove Jean off he’s a pig.”

Jean did not look like a pig. Jean looked like everything Eren found attractive all balled up in one person. Feeling slightly nervous, Eren cast around for Armin’s hand and tugged him over towards the sofa Sasha was sprawled on.

“Hey.” He said, probably miles too late, taking a seat on the floor. Sasha didn’t seem to notice anything was off, and nodded and grinned at him, before cutting her eyes to Mikasa and patting the seat next to her. Mikasa sat, accepted the proffered joint and took a drag, giving Sasha a small smile before passing it to Eren.

“Jean, this is Eren, Armin and Mikasa.” Connie announced as he re-entered the room, arms full of food. He jerked his chin towards Eren. “Eren likes shitty French films too.”

Jean peered across the room at him with bloodshot eyes, looking spaced out and mildly interested. Eren stared at a spot on the wall just past him, feeling inexplicably warm. To keep his hands busy he took a hit and passed the joint to Armin, who took it after a moment of hesitation. 

“You like New Wave?” Jean mumbled, a little crease appearing between his eyebrows. Eren nodded jerkily, exhaling slowly. The room stunk of pot and Eren felt a little overheated, especially under the weight of Jean’s gaze. “Truffaut?”

“Godard.” Eren said, and felt Armin turn to look at him. God, he was making an idiot of himself. Fucking _Godard_. Everyone and their mother liked Godard. “Truffaut is okay.”

Jean huffed and turned his gaze back to the ceiling. “Truffaut is more than _okay_ , man.”

Connie laughed suddenly, and Eren glanced over to where he was shoving Jean’s legs out of the way to sit down. He grinned and shook his head, “Eren, don’t encourage him. Like any of us need to listen to another of Jean’s stoned French film rants.”

Jean pointed a slow finger at him and scowled. “You don’t appreciate good cinema dude.”

Connie rolled his eyes and dodged Jean’s clumsy kick to his head. “Stop calling it cinema, god, you’re so pretentious.”

Eren watched the exchange with mild interest, accepting the joint from Armin when it made its way back around. 

“You look a little starstruck.” Armin whispered amusedly, nudging him in the side and grinning when Eren flushed red. 

“Shut up.” He hissed, flicking his eyes over to where Jean and Connie were grappling on the couch. They weren’t even looking in his direction, his and Jean’s conversation forgotten. Feeling slightly disappointed, Eren took a hit and tried not to stare at Jean. Armin just laughed at him and leaned forward for the bag of crisps on the table.

Jean left not long after, apparently to go to his night job. Eren watched him go, red eyed and smelling of pot, movements slow and clumsy.

“How does he work like that?” He asked, lips feeling oddly numb. He was fairly buzzed by that point, but only managed to relax when Jean left with a wave over his shoulder and barely a glance towards Eren.

Connie shrugged one shoulder, stretched out in the space Jean had vacated. “Jean’s a master at concealing how stoned he is, apparently.” 

“Does he go to your college?” Eren asked casually. Judging by the look on Mikasa’s face, he hadn’t been very successful. She had a special expression for when Eren was being an idiot, a mix of exasperation and pity.

“Yeah, he does film.” She paused to take a drink of the beer balanced on her knee. “He’s a prick.”

Sasha snorted halfway through smoking, and they all waited for her to stop coughing before she spoke.

“He’s fine, Jesus.” Sasha coughed then laughed. “Mikasa’s just salty because he always hits on her.” 

“Oh.” Eren deflated. Armin patted his arm sympathetically. “He’s straight.”

“What, you interested?” Sasha asked, leering over the arm of the sofa at him. Eren shook his head defensively, and she laughed. Mikasa was giving him her ‘you’re a transparent idiot’ look again. “He’s not straight.” She said, and laughed again, like it was funny.

Later, on the bus back to their apartment, Eren went on a stoned rant about Jean’s profile that Armin patiently sat through with a quiet air of bemusement. Mikasa just stared out of the window and offered the occasional, “Believe me, he’s an ass.” to which Eren paid no attention. He officially had a new crush.

\------

The thing with Eren’s new crush was this: Jean barely knew he existed. Eren was a college dropout with a full time job in a coffee shop, whereas Jean was doing a supposedly pretentious film degree and was currently looking at gap years abroad, according to Mikasa. He was one of those rich boys that Eren always inexplicably found himself drawn to, which was never good considering the cultural differences, so to say. By that of course, Eren meant the fact that sometimes they sometimes went without hot water and often couldn’t afford groceries since Mikasa and Armin were both in college and he was the only one working full time. Maybe it was the sugar daddy element in him, but Eren just liked rich boys. They always had good drugs and good hair. Both things Eren could really appreciate.

Basically, Eren was embarrassed of his gross flat and didn’t know how to meet Jean again besides lurking outside the college and ambushing him.

“I’m pathetic.” He muttered. Armin, who was standing over the boiling kettle in the kitchen, hummed in agreement. “We talked for about thirty seconds. He’s probably forgotten all about me.”

“Doubt it, you usually make a lasting impression on people.” Armin said wryly, voice almost drowned out by the sound of the boiling kettle.

“Yeah,” Eren said sarcastically. “Yeah, he probably remembers me as the dude who doesn’t like fucking Francois Truffaut. Fuck. I’m stupid.”

“To be honest, he probably remembers you as the staring guy.” Armin said, spoon clinking against the sides of his mug as he stirred his coffee. Eren tried to shoot him a betrayed look, but he wasn’t looking.

“Armin, I’m betrayed. I wasn’t staring.” He sat up from his prone position he’d been in for half an hour, lamenting his bad luck. “In fact, I was definitely not staring. I was making a serious effort not to.”

Armin made a noncommittal noise and came to sit next to him, slinging his legs in Eren’s lap and cradling his coffee close to his chest. “I know Jean.”

Eren stared. Yet again, he was betrayed. “What? How?”

“We started talking in the library one time, and now we study together sometimes.” Armin said calmly, seemingly ignorant of Eren’s angst.

“ _Armin_ , how could you keep this information from me?”

Armin shrugged. “Because it’s funny watching you lament over him.”

Eren gaped. “Why do people always think you’re the nice one?”

\---------

Armin said he’d talk to Jean for him, next time he saw him around college. Which meant a couple of days spent in agonising anticipation which Eren tried to work off. He even vacuumed the house. Mikasa was so stunned she checked his temperature in case he was coming down with something.

Then the day came. The first day of the rest of his life. Armin came bearing the best news Eren had ever heard in his short life.

“Jean’s having a get together at his house and invited us.”

“Well done.” Eren grinned, patting him on the shoulder roughly. “Did he mention me? Did he say you could bring me?”

“No I don’t think he remembers you.” Armin popped the lid of his coffee to pour a sachet of sugar in and stirred it with the wooden stirrer. Eren was a broken man, and Armin was preparing his coffee, just like always. The tip of his nose was red from the cold after walking to meet Eren after his shift, just like always. 

Eren deflated in the chair. Armin made a sympathetic noise. “I can’t believe he doesn’t remember me.”

“Considering you sparkling personality, me too.” Armin deadpanned. Eren scowled. Nice one? Really? Armin was the meanest one.

Eren pushed a few grains of sugar around on the sticky table, still scowling. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so unreasonable that Jean didn’t remember him. He _had_ been baked out of mind, and Eren had just kinda sat there and looked twitchy. Maybe he hadn’t made a great first impression.

“I’m gonna make such a good impression this weekend he’s gonna wish he’d known me sooner.” Eren muttered, resolved. 

Armin sighed and nodded. Eren could practically hear him rolling his eyes. Whatever, he did not need Armin’s negativity in his life. He was gonna hook up with Jean Kirschtein, and make Armin eat his words. Or, lack of words. He was gonna make Armin eat his pointed silences and eye rolling.

\-----------

Jean’s house was huge, packed with people, and stunk of pot and beer. Eren was fairly certain he’d never been in a house so nice. It was the kind of house where you felt like you should use a coaster for your drink. Eren couldn’t see any coasters, so kept his beer pressed to his chest, a cold presence against his stupid, rapidly beating heart.

“He’s over there, look.” Mikasa hissed, pointing discreetly towards where Jean was talking to a group of people Eren didn’t know. Eren didn’t know anyone in the room. He clutched his can tighter. “Go talk to him or something.”

Eren gave her an incredulous look. “I can’t just _talk to him_ …he’s with people I don’t know! He doesn’t remember me!”

Armin gave him a Look. It was very similar to Mikasa’s Look. Eren was fairly certain his was scarier. “I’m sure he does remember you.” He said, raising his voice to be heard over the music, some obscure indie crap that Eren had never heard.

“Why would he?” Eren fretted, bouncing on the heels of his feet slightly to get a better look at Jean over everyone’s heads. 

“I’m gonna call him over, you’re being a child.” Mikasa muttered, and before Eren could stop her she was waving and calling across the room to him. “Jean!”

His head snapped up in a gesture very reminiscent of a golden retriever. Eren scowled and tugged at the hem of his shirt, ran his hands through his hair. “I hate you.” He muttered as Jean began to make his way through the crush of people.

“Mikasa, hi!” Jean looked even better than Eren remembered. Maybe it was because he wasn’t stoned, or maybe he’d just decided to make an effort for the party. Or maybe just because Eren had been lusting after him for weeks. Eren stared very hard at the floor and tried not to fume as Jean launched into a conversation with Mikasa about college.

“Eren and Armin are here!” Mikasa said pointedly, breaking into Jean’s slightly rambling talk of a mutual friend. She nudged Eren in the side until he gave Jean an embarrassed nod. Jean stared at him for a moment, until he smiled brightly.

“Godard guy, right?” 

Eren winced internally and managed a smile. “Yeah, yeah, that’s me.” He laughed awkwardly and ignored Armin’s little huff of disappointment to his side. “Truffaut guy, right?” Like he hadn’t been pining over Jean for the last fortnight.

Jean laughed and pointed at him with his beer. “Nice, you remembered.”

Eren nodded awkwardly and laughed. Yes, Jean, he remembered. He’d been agonising over that conversation for weeks. It would be hard for him to forget, frankly.

Mikasa chose that moment to be the best wingman he’d ever had, and grasped Armin by the arm, dragging him off. “Just spotted Ymir and Christa, gonna say hi! You two get to know each other.” Eren was left staring, dumbfounded, after them. Jean nodded and took a drink of his beer, giving Eren a thoughtful look. Eren ran his hand through his hair, tried not to look nervous.

“Can I smoke here?” Eren asked, reaching for his pack of cigarettes before Jean shook his head and held up a hand.

“Not inside.” He said, and started winding through groups of people towards the garden, glancing over his shoulder to see if Eren was following.

“You don’t smoke?” Eren asked, pressing past a couple kissing against the wall before following Jean out to the garden. Jean sat himself down on the ground, and scooted aside to make room for Eren. Eren sat gingerly next to him, 

“I don’t.” Jean said solemnly, and leaned back against the wall as Eren lit up. 

“But you smoke weed?” Eren said disbelievingly, exhaling a cloud of smoke , white in the darkness. Jean laughed and scrubbed his hand through his hair. 

“Cigarettes kill you, man.” Jean said with another laugh, leaning against Eren’s arm with a smile. Eren scoffed, trying to conceal how affected he was by the warm weight of Jean against his side.

“Whatever.” Eren muttered, and took a sharp drag off his cigarette to try and distract himself. The smoke burnt his throat, and his heart was still beating a little fast. Jean smelt like cologne and Eren blamed his rapidly beating heart on the nicotine. 

“So d’you go to college?” Jean asked. “I haven’t seen you with Armin or Mikasa.”

Eren laughed awkwardly, ashed onto the floor next to him. “Uh, no. I work and they mooch off me.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jean said, giving Eren a slow smile. God, Eren just wanted to shove his tongue down his throat. He wasn’t feeling very eloquent, not with Jean leaning against his side and smirking at him like that. “Where’d you work?”

“Coffee shop.” He said. “And no, I can’t get you free coffee, before you ask.”

Jean laughed and shook his head. “Damn, and here I was hoping to befriend you for free coffee.” Eren tried not to lose his already dubious cool at the prospect of Jean hoping to _befriend_ him. God, he was so uncool. How utterly tragic. Needless to say, Eren hadn’t dated in a while.

“What d’you do in college?” Eren asked, like he hadn’t already extracted all the important information on Jean from Armin and Mikasa already.

“I do film.” Jean said, getting this utterly pretentious expression on his face as he talked. “It’s great, I love film. It’s such an important medium, you know?”

“Uh, yeah.” Eren said stupidly. “Absolutely.”

“Who’s your favourite director?” Jean asked interestedly, tipping his head against the wall to look at Eren. Eren frowned and took a drag on his cigarette to give him time to think. _Don’t say whoever directed Die Hard. Don’t say whoever directed Die Hard. Do not mention Die Hard in any way._

“Uh, Quentin Tarantino?” He hazarded. Jean grinned and nodded.

“Yeah! He’s great. The dialogue is excellent, yeah?”

“For sure.” Eren said with an awkward smile. Dialogue? Eren liked Tarantino’s films for the excessive violence and not a lot else, truly. “So, uh.” He cast around for a change of topic, completely out of his depth with Jean’s level of film-talk. Jean beat him to it though, nudging him with his knee with a serious, “Hey.”

“What?” Eren asked nervously, taking a drag and turning away to exhale away from Jean (mostly to break eye contact, truthfully). 

“So, what’s with you and Armin? Because I asked him after I met you at Connie’s and he just laughed for like, twenty minutes.” Jean laughed embarrassedly and ran his hand through his hair again. Eren just stared blankly at him, until his brain caught up with what Jean was saying and he laughed suddenly.

“What?” He asked, slapping his hand over his mouth to stop from laughing. Jean stared at the ground between his feet, smiling embarrassedly. “Me and Armin?” Eren cried.

“Alright, shut the fuck up, I get it.” Jean muttered, exhaling and leaning back against the wall, stretching out his legs in front of him. Eren mirrored him, still laughing. Him and Armin? Maybe at one point, when they were both fifteen and bicurious, but now? God. That would be like his dating his own brother.

“God.” Eren muttered, and laughed again at the thought. Jean just mumbled something incoherent and nudged his knee against Eren’s.

They sat in silence for a minute, Jean drumming his fingers against his leg, completely off beat with the music coming from inside. Eren kept glancing at him, at the way the long straight slope of his nose looked in the half-light, the way his throat looked when he lifted his can of beer to his lips and drank, tipping his head back. God, Eren wanted to kiss him. He took an aggressive drag on his cigarette, jumped when Jean’s knee accidentally knocked against his.

“Sorry.” Jean muttered, and instead of putting some room between them, he shuffled up a little, so their knees were touching. Eren wondered if Jean was a little drunk. Eren himself was stone cold sober, his beer sitting forgotten on the floor next to him. He was just to calm his stupid beating heart down when Jean spoke up, leaning into his side.

“This is kinda awkward, huh?” He laughed, and glanced at Eren to see his reaction. Eren ducked his head and smiled, shrugged.

“There’s not a lot to talk about, I guess.” He muttered, and shot Jean a quick smile. It was oddly comfortable, despite the lack of conversation topics. Maybe Eren had lucked out and he and Jean were just on the same wavelength as each other. Like with Armin and Mikasa; he could sit in silence with them completely comfortably.

“Well, you know what they say.” Jean said thoughtfully. “Don’t discuss religion and politics with friends.” He paused and frowned. “Something like that.”

“Okay,” Eren said, trying not to grin too hard at the implication that Jean thought they were _friends_ already. God, he was pathetic. “No religion or politics. How about how you take your coffee?”

Jean smiled and pointed a gently weaving finger at him. Yeah, he was tipsy. “Aha, your coffee shop experience makes for good conversation topics.”

Eren grinned and took a final drag off his cigarette before stubbing it out, exhaling away from Jean. “Someone’s coffee order says a lot about them.”

“Does it?.” Jean murmured, then sat up a little straighter. “I take it black as my heart with as much sugar as I can steal.” He grinned and tipped his head to the side. “What do you get from that, Mr. Coffee Shop?”

It occurred to Eren that they were _flirting_. Jean’s knee against his, the playful tone of his voice, the way his eyes bored into Eren’s. Holy shit. Jean was _flirting_ with him. Eren needed a cold compress and possibly an oxygen mask. He swallowed. “Black as your heart but with heaps of sugar?” Jean nodded, a small smile playing on his lips. “I think you’re probably too pussy to drink it straight black but you wanna look cool so you just load the sugar on.” He paused. “Or maybe you just have a rampant sweet tooth.”

Jean made a mock-offended face and put a hand to his chest. “But what about my intellectual soul?”

Eren shook his head and shrugged. “Pansy.” He muttered. Jean huffed and shook his head, leant back on his hands to look at the night sky.

“So how come I’ve never met you before?” He asked after a couple of minutes of silence, where Eren drank his beer and fidgeted next to him. Eren looked up, surprised, at his words, and Jean gave him a slow grin. “Armin and Mikasa been locking you away?”

Eren cleared his throat nervously. “I just work a lot.” He said dumbly, then laughed when Jean grinned wider, nose crinkling with amusement. 

“You’re way too cute to be chained behind the counter of a coffee shop.” Jean said firmly. Eren gaped at him for a second, he thought he was _cute?_ Eren’s night was so taking a turn for the better.

“So what do you suggest.” He said lightly, trying to keep his cool. “I gotta pay the bills somehow.”

Jean gave him a lopsided smile. “Come here.” He said, shuffling a little closer. Eren, confused, heart thudding, turned towards him.

“What?” He murmured, eyes on Jean’s lips as he slid his hand across Eren’s nape, tugging him closer. Eren was fairly certain his heart was about to beat through his ribcage and out of his body, like one of those old cartoons.

“I wanna kiss you.” Jean said with a laugh. And he did.

He tasted like beer and fruity shots, and when Eren made a breathy little noise of surprise against his mouth he shuddered and pulled him in closer. Eren clung onto his waist, hot flushes running through him at every touch of Jean’s tongue to his. He was very aware that he tasted like cigarettes, which wow, gross. But Jean didn’t stop kissing him, so he forgot after a while and concentrated on Jean’s hand on his jaw, the other fisted in his hair.

They broke apart to gasp in breath, and Jean gave Eren a slow smile, eyes burning and heavy on his. Eren just tugged him closer, rolled his tongue over Jean’s bottom lip before biting it. Jean made a pleased sound against his mouth and tilted Eren’s head to kiss him hard.

“Oh my god.” Eren muttered, breathing fast, Jean’s lips on his neck. Jean made an amused sound against his throat and grazed his teeth over Eren’s adam’s apple before nosing along Eren’s jaw to kiss him again.

“Sorry that was kinda.” He broke off and laughed, breath in little puffs against Eren’s oversensitive lips. “Out of the blue?” He glanced away and laughed again. 

Eren shrugged and leaned back a little, glancing through the doors to the party beyond. No one seemed to be noticing them, and he spotted Mikasa talking animatedly to a short blonde girl, so he didn’t have to worry about her. 

“I don’t mind.” He murmured, and tugged Jean closer to catch his lips in a rough kiss.

\------

The morning after the party, Eren got up earlier than usual for no particular reason except that he still wired from last night. Armin was up already, because he was some sort of soulless morning person and liked to get stuff done. Eren just blinked blearily at the TV, some shitty morning TV talk show, replaying the events of last night and yawning.

“You’re up early.” Armin commented, standing in front of the TV to hand Eren some toast. Eren took it and batted at Armin’s thigh until he moved.

“I guess so.” Eren mumbled through a mouthful of toast, grumbling as Armin shoved his shoulder. “What.”

“What happened last night, then.” Armin asked, leaning over the back of the sofa to grin at Eren as he rolled his eyes. “You were positively _giddy_ after.”

“Not a lot.” Eren mumbled, and pressed his face into the cushion so Armin couldn’t see him smile. “We talked.” He said, voice muffled. “Nothing else.”

“That’s a damn lie.” Armin said lightly, but walked away, his voice coming from his bedroom. “I’ll get it out of you.” He called, and Eren snorted. “And if I don’t, Mikasa will.” Okay, maybe that was true. Eren scowled.

He watched TV mindlessly for a couple of hours, wondering idly if Jean would call him, or if he’d have to grow some balls and do it himself. He was interrupted from his musing by a knock on the door. He lay there for a minute, trying to mentally tell Armin to get the door, but when a second knock came he gave up and went to go open the door. Despite Armin’s superior intellect, he hadn’t yet mastered mind reading.

“Yeah, one second.” He called, scratching a hand through his hair with a yawn as the person knocked again. “Chill.” He muttered as he opened the door, expecting Connie on the other side, even though it was a little early for him to be conscious.

“Oh, hey.” Jean said, looking just as surprised as Eren was to see him standing there. His eyes flicked down, quickly, then back up at Eren’s face, which was _burning_. 

“Jean.” He choked. “Hello. What are you doing here.” He said in a rush, closing the door a little to block Jean’s view. Here he was, all gross and unshowered in holey underwear and his bare chest _before his morning coffee_. It wasn’t exactly glamorous, and Jean really did not need to see him like this at this point in their tenuous barely-relationship.

“Uh.” Jean sounded just about as embarrassed as Eren felt, and shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Is Armin here?” He asked, looking down the hall.

“Yeah, he’s.” Eren cleared his throat awkwardly and opened the door wider, stepping back to let Jean in. “He’s in his room. Down the hall.” He added, as Jean walked past him. He looked good, all bundled up against the cold, which made Eren look even worse in comparison. Jean paused in the middle of the living room, and Eren lingered awkwardly by the couch, wondering if Jean was going to say anything about last night, or whether he should just wallow on the couch and leave him to see Armin.

“Hey.” Jean said, steadfastly not looking at Eren’s junk in his gross boxers, thank god. “About last night.”

_Oh god, he’s gonna say it was a mistake,_ Eren bemoaned internally, trying to keep a straight face as he tipped his head to the side questioningly. “Yeah, what is it?”

Jean looked a bit pink, and scrubbed his hand through his hair with a grimace, “Well, I was just wondering.” He coughed embarrassedly. Eren rocked back on his heels, waiting. This could go two ways. Either Jean asks him to elope to marry in Vegas, or he tells Eren to back the fuck off. Eren crossed his fingers and cast his mind back to where he’d put his good suit. “If you wanna go out for coffee? Or something?” He laughed awkwardly and stared down at his feet. Eren’s heart leapt. He tried very hard to keep his celebration internal.

“Yeah!” Eren said, maybe a little too forcefully as Jean looked up in surprise. Eren cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling ridiculous in his boxers from like, a week ago and his bedhead. “I mean, that’d be cool.” He muttered, staring down at his feet.

“Cool!” Jean said, and when Eren glanced up he was grinning, the corners of his eyes crinkled. Eren could have actually expired right there and then. God, his crush was _debilitating_.

Armin, because he was the master of badly timed entrances, chose that moment to walk into the room, coffee cup in hand. He stopped dead when he saw them, and shot Eren a sly look from behind Jean’s back.

“Sorry, am I interrupting anything?” He said lightly, before moving into the kitchen. Eren was going to be having Strong Words with Armin after this, but just shot him a glare and shook his head.

“We’re just catching up.” He said levelly. Armin raised his eyebrows and nodded, adopting a surprised expression. Eren rolled his eyes.

“Jean, you want coffee?” Armin asked, holding up a clean mug. Jean nodded gratefully, casting one last look at Eren before moving to lean his elbows on the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen and the living room.

“It’s freezing outside.” He muttered, resting his hands on his chin and huffing. “I’ve been out like, five minutes and I already need to thaw out.”

Eren took the opportunity to excuse himself and shower, try and make himself at least semi-attractive since the object of gross crush was standing _right there_. He shot Armin a glare that he hoped conveyed how much Armin _should not_ talk about Eren whilst he was gone. Judging by the innocent look Armin replied with, he was gonna grill Jean for all the information. God rest his soul, Armin was _ruthless_.

One shower later, where Eren washed away the shame of Jean seeing him ugly and gross, Eren snuck back into the living room to take up his natural place sprawled on the couch. He could hear Jean and Armin talking from Armin’s bedroom and wondered why Jean had come to their flat.

“Are you still wallowing?”

Eren sat up at the sound of Mikasa’s voice, narrowing his eyes when she feigned surprise and tousled his damp hair. “Never mind, you showered.” She said, and poked at his legs until he moved them so she could curl up on the end of the sofa.

“D’you know why Jean’s here?” Eren asked, handing her the remote before she asked. She was a serial channel surfer, and couldn’t watch anything for more than ten minutes. 

“Studying with Armin.” Mikasa said disinterestedly, pausing in her flicking through channels to give Eren a sharp look. “So what happened with you and him last night? I didn’t see you until we decided to leave. Or Jean.”

Eren shifted uncomfortably under the weight of her gaze. “Nothing much. We sat out and talked, I guess.”

Mikasa shifted closer to him, squinting thoughtfully. “We couldn’t stop you talking about him like, two days ago. What’s making you clam up now?”

Eren laughed uncomfortably and looked away, shuffling back. Resistance was futile, he knew. If Mikasa wanted to know something, she found a way to know it. Worse, she knew all the ways to make him tell. Silently, he cursed the fact that they’d grown up together.

“We might have kissed.” He mumbled, glancing away. Mikasa snorted and moved away from him, picked up the remote again.

“Knew it.” She said smugly, and went back to her channel surfing. Eren had never been so offended in his life. 

“Is that all you’re gonna say?” He asked indignantly. “He asked me out for coffee too.”

“Good for you.” Mikasa said. “Maybe he’ll stop trailing around after me.”

“I can’t believe how little you care about this momentous event.” Eren cried, poking her in the ribs with his foot. “We _kissed_.” He stressed.

“Like I didn’t see it coming, though.” She replied, and rolled her eyes at Eren’s confusion. “Please, with your complete fucking single mindedness I’d be more surprised if you _hadn’t_ hooked up last night.”

“Alright.” Eren muttered, sitting back to watch the TV. “I would’ve appreciated more enthusiasm.”

“Sorry.” Mikasa said, not sounding very sorry at all. “Tell Connie and Sasha if you want a good reaction.”

“Never.” Eren said vehemently. They laughed, Mikasa settled on a show to watch and Eren tried to relax with the reminder that Jean was just down the hall.

\--------

Eren must have slipped into a doze after that, especially since it was like, ten a.m and he hadn’t been up so early since he started working evening shifts, because the next thing he knew it was noon and Armin was chatting loudly to Jean by the door.

Trying to shake off the embarrassment of Jean seeing him passed out on his sister (probably drooling too) he sat up and hooked his elbow over the back of the couch, rubbing his eyes. Jean noticed the movement and looked past Armin to give him a grin.

“Hey, so, when’re you free?” He asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Armin and Mikasa’s heads snapped around at that, almost in sync, which was creepy. Eren ignored them as best he could and tried to sound as normal as possible while his heart was doing a weird flippy thing in his chest.

“Whenever!” He said enthusiastically, and Armin shot him a look which conveyed just how desperate he sounded. Eren narrowed his eyes at him. He was not desperate. Just...eager.

Jean laughed and scrubbed his hand through his hair, seemingly self conscious of the two man peanut gallery watching them like hawks. “Alright, cool, how about I pick you up from here at two?”

Eren nodded quickly, covertly kicking Mikasa as she laughed and tried to disguise it as a cough. “Yeah, sure, sounds good.” He said, trying to sound as not-desperate as possible.

“Great.” Jean said with a smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Eren nodded again, and with a final wave to Armin and Mikasa, Jean left, leaving Eren to flop back against the armrest in triumph. He thrust a lazy fist into the air, celebrating his own good luck.

“He’s got a _car_.” He breathed, letting his arm fall against the back of the sofa. “His own car...god, he’s financially secure enough to run a _car_.”

He could practically feel Armin and Mikasa’s twin eye rolling, but he didn’t care. He was on cloud fucking nine. 

“God, you totally want to make him your sugar daddy, don’t you?” Armin muttered, perching on the edge of the sofa next to Mikasa. Eren shot him a dirty look, then Mikasa one too as she laughed.

“Fuck off.” He muttered. “I am not going to let you ruin my good mood.”

Mikasa patted his knee then rose. “Well, as much as I’d like to share in your celebrations, I’ve gotta get to class.”

She left, and Armin went off to do whatever he did in his free time, read books, practise telekinesis, whatever, leaving Eren to triumph in his promise of a date.

**Author's Note:**

> as always point out any mistakes + thanks for reading!! title from tighten up by the black keys


End file.
